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" Mr. Calvin Joyner 9 c, o \.) i\.,"l tJ1 ~ Only two Colorado squawfish confirmed spawning sites, as defined in the Colorado Squawfish Recovery Plan, have been located in the Upper Basin: river mile 16,5 of the Yampa River and river mile 156.6 of the Green River. These areas have the common characteristics of coarse cobble or boulder substrates forming rapids or riffles associated with deeper pools or eddies. It is believed that a stable, clean substrate is necessary for spawning and incubation. Substrates are swept clean of finer sediments by high flows scouring the bed prior to the spawning period. O'Brien (1984) studied the hydraulic and sediment transport dynamics of the cobble bar within the Yampa River spawning site and duplicated some of its characteristics in a laboratory flume study. Based on field observations, he reported: "On the rising limb of the hydrograph, sands are deposited in the cobble interstices. These sands are interchanged between the bed and the suspended zone for discharges less than bankfull. Depending on the supply-capacity relationship, either deposition or scour could be occurring, When the cobbles move, the sand, of course, is washed from the interstices and may be completely removed from around the cobbles. Rearrangement of the cobbles will result in more stability of the armor layer. On the falling limb, the armor layer becomes a trap for sands until finally, the sand reservoir is again filled. Without cobble movement, sand will be scoured only to a depth of one-half to one median cobble diameter below the cobble bed surface," In the flume experiments, the sand level was observed approximately 0.50 to 1 cobble diameter below the surface of the cobble bed, which compared to field observations of sand depth at approximately 0.50 to 1 median cobble diameter. O'Brien reported a cobble size range of 50-100 mm with a median size of 75 mm at the spawning site. Milhous (1982) proposes discharges of approximately one-half that required to initiate cobble movement will be capable of extracting sands and fines from the cobble substrate. Thus, after the supply of sand diminishes, flows of sufficient magnitude and duration are required to scour the cobble bed in preparation for spawning and incubation. Razorback Sucker Historical and Current Distribution The razorback sucker, an endemic species unique to the Colorado River Basin, was historically abundant and widely distributed within warmwater reaches throughout the Colorado River Basin. Historically, razorbacks were found in the main stem Colorado River and major tributaries in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and in Mexico (Ellis 1914; Minckley 1973). Bestgen (1990) reported that this species was once so numerous that it was commonly used as food by early settlers, and further, that commercially marketable quantities were caught in Arizona as recently as 1949, In the Upper Basin, razorback suckers were reported in the Green River to be very abundant near Green River, Utah, in the late 1800's (Jordan 1891). An account in Osmundson and Kaeding (1989) reported that residents living